tennbeekeeper

It could've been a squirrel, and yet husband heard kids out there that day... so who knows. The squirrels in the area tend to get "drawn and quartered," so if it was one of them, it's days are most likely numbered.

pooflady

We certainly haven't had too much of that. It's called blossom rot and some of it has to do with the weather. Also, you need to put bone meal (calcium) in when the plant them and I think husband ran out and didn't do it. He's not exactly admitting to it.

dontwantaname

tennbeekeeper wrote:It could've been a squirrel, and yet husband heard kids out there that day... so who knows. The squirrels in the area tend to get "drawn and quartered," so if it was one of them, it's days are most likely numbered.

Squirrels love to take one bite and dump it. I don't think we ever got an eatable peach from the tree that was growing over the fence. Maybe it isn't warm enough for a long enough time here.
The apple tree that got eaten by carperter ants, some years it was crab apples, sometimes real apples. Odd. More real apples in the years before it fell. Even odder. Healthy tree was crab apples...sick tree real apples.

WE LURV YOU TOO! Dork!!!
No greater love is lost than that not shared.

darthv8r

dontwantaname wrote:Squirrels love to take one bite and dump it. I don't think we ever got an eatable peach from the tree that was growing over the fence. Maybe it isn't warm enough for a long enough time here.
The apple tree that got eaten by carperter ants, some years it was crab apples, sometimes real apples. Odd. More real apples in the years before it fell. Even odder. Healthy tree was crab apples...sick tree real apples.

gwp

pooflady wrote:gwp, where's your garden pictures? You should be harvesting by now.

No, we're still a month away from tomato harvest, 2 months til corn, and longer for squash and cukes. This is one of the latest zones on the map I think.

I am thoroughly bummed regarding the garden ... It's a long and sordid tale, so I'll try to cover the major categories of catastrophe:

- A mama deer has eaten anything taller than 18" on all of the pepper plants, anything that she could reach of the cukes (I planted them in big cages this year), and has nibbled on most of the peas.

- I am reeling from a chickweed invasion of massive proportions. In the space of a week (twice so far), the entire garden from border to border becomes a solid mass of weed, 2 feet tall. Yesterday, I pulled out 6 heaping wheelbarrow loads of weeds from the aisles that used to have watermelon plants. They never had a chance. I found one watermelon plant out of 2 dozen that was still recognizable. It'll never make it either as it is now very weak.

The weeds had choked the butternut and acorn squash as well. Those aisles revealed 3 acorn and four butternut plants that survived. The deer had already wounded any others that were in there. She seems to like the blossoms.

- Lettuce and cauliflower are all total losses. Between the deer and the chickweed, it's all gone.

- I have no idea what happened to the radishes. The first few pickings (a week before they should have been ready) were delicious and crisp. A week later, they were all mutated and woody. I pulled the remaining ones yesterday and they were hideous. Either this was bad seed, or I have something in my soil that is just wreaking havoc. I've never seen radishes do this before. Horror-movie-hideous they were. Not overgrown necessarily either. Bizarre.

Makes me want to plant grass seed across the garden this fall and give it up to the lawn...

On a more positive note -- the peppers that are below the reach of the deer are doing well. I picked two green chili's yesterday morning and chopped them with a couple of garlic cloves into my eggs. Mmmm ... waarrrrm! They are going to be great dried or pureed into hotsauce.

There seem to be a lot of yellow banana peppers as well. I see no Bell peppers on the plants, nor jalepenos though.

Lots of green tomatoes on the vines, all still pretty small. I'll be patient.

Picked some fresh dill yesterday. I think it's time to pick all of it plus the parsley before Something Bad happens to any of it.

Pumpkins are blossoming. No signs of fruit yet. Then again, last year they all flowered like crazy but never produced anything.

Sunflowers are only 2 feet tall. I don't remember them growing so slowly before.

Corn seems to be healthy and untouched by the deer. There are no ears showing, but it's early still.

I wondered how she was getting in there, as the whole garden is surrounded by 7 foot tall poles topped with a wooden rail, and with 4 feet of chain-link fencing at the bottom. One day right after dawn, I watched her walking around in the garden, and when she heard me she lept out again, over the fence and under the rail, effortlessly, like a gazelle. I've since gone around the whole garden and woven wire back and forth between the upper rail and the top of the chainlink, and hung streamers all over. This will only help if she can't or doesn't want to leap 7 feet high. Somehow, I think she can.

pooflady

gwp wrote:No, we're still a month away from tomato harvest, 2 months til corn, and longer for squash and cukes. This is one of the latest zones on the map I think.

I am thoroughly bummed regarding the garden ... It's a long and sordid tale, so I'll try to cover the major categories of catastrophe:

Wow, what a disaster. All that time that went into planting the seeds and transferring the plants. I know the deer can clear a four-foot fence with no problem at all, but I'm surprised she got in between the fence and the rail. I've watched even fawns clear four feet from a standing position. Husband has used Liquid Fence in the past with some success. He didn't plant any vegetables this year, but the hostas are doing okay even though there's deer droppings in the yard frequently.

I wonder what happened to your radishes. That's weird. Did you plant green onions? Those usually make it through anything. Our tomatoes are just starting to come in. Had our first BLTs last week.

I didn't know chickweed grew that high. I thought it was more a ground-covering weed. Did you know you can eat chickweed? Maybe you should try growing it!

gwp

pooflady wrote:... That's weird. Did you plant green onions? Those usually make it through anything.

Yes, but in a different garden (the one that has the herbs and celery and such). I don't see them, so I'm not sure what's going on... The soil was not worked as much in that garden.

pooflady wrote:I didn't know chickweed grew that high. I thought it was more a ground-covering weed. Did you know you can eat chickweed? Maybe you should try growing it!

I'm definitely not a weed expert. The diagnosis of chickweed was made with KT's help and and a few web pages. Actually, I just went back to one of them and searched a little more, and I think I have a new one to blame, Galinsoga.

kalyha

Josephus wrote:I've dried lotsa of peppers that way- works great. tied on a string, I mean.

great ideas, but I don't know that I have any really dry place inside the house. I have a 100 year old row home with no a/c or any of that fancy stuff. maybe I'll try the string and hang them out in the sun if we have a few nice days in a row. Does that sound like it would work?

dontwantaname

gwp wrote:I'm definitely not a weed expert. The diagnosis of chickweed was made with KT's help and and a few web pages. Actually, I just went back to one of them and searched a little more, and I think I have a new one to blame, Galinsoga.

Uggh. Just looking at the pictures makes me sweat ...

I've got that sucker! It really enjoyed when I put Miracle Grow on the plants. It was like a ground cover the next day or so.

WE LURV YOU TOO! Dork!!!
No greater love is lost than that not shared.

Josephus

kalyha wrote:great ideas, but I don't know that I have any really dry place inside the house. I have a 100 year old row home with no a/c or any of that fancy stuff. maybe I'll try the string and hang them out in the sun if we have a few nice days in a row. Does that sound like it would work?

just hang them anywhere. I hanged mine from the ceiling in my dining room. not really dry, but it doesn't need to be; just drier than the pepper, and air not saturated with humidity.

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